Specimen(102)

I place my handgun on the table, and we head outside.

I know the route, but Wick has access to the monorail system so we can get there faster. Being on the train makes me nervous though there are only a handful of passengers at this early hour. We change trains once, then leave the station and move to the sidewalk next to a tall brick building.

Mills Pharmco is written in red over the doors, and the Mills flag flies outside.

“You’re on your own from here on out,” Wick says. “I’ll be back at the checkpoint until you return. When you get back to the outpost, look at the back window. As soon as I get there, I’ll put a white index card in the bottom right corner. If I have any problems, I’ll put a red index card in the bottom left corner.”

“Will do.”

The sun breaks over the horizon as I approach the building. It’s still very early, but I’m not the only one heading to Mills Pharmco. Several people move to the front door, but I pass it by. My destination is a smaller door reserved for executives.

Glancing around to make sure I’m not seen, I leap over a fence and drop down into an enclosed parking area and make my way to the elevator. My hacked credentials activate the lift, and I press the button for the ninth floor.

There’s no one in the hallway when I enter, except a young woman at a registration desk, talking on the phone. The lab I need to access is past her, but she doesn’t even look up as I go by. I find the door to the lab, listen closely, and enter when I hear no sounds from the other side.

The layout is exactly as it is displayed in my head. I go immediately to the cabinet where the Seroquel is supposed to be stored, slide the hacked card through the access slot, and the door opens. There are a thousand different vials of a hundred different drugs inside the huge cabinet, but no sign of what I need.

It doesn’t make sense. This is exactly where the drug should be stored, but there’s nothing here. There’s an open space where several vials have been removed, all from one area, but no vials labeled with what I came to acquire. The Seroquel had to have been stored in what is now empty space. Someone has come here and removed it all.

They knew I would need it. They knew I was coming.

If someone knew I would be coming here to find the drugs I need, that means they’ve been watching for me to try to grab them. I have to get out of here immediately.

I spin on my heel, and Isaac eyes me from the doorway.

He’s unarmed but stands with practiced confidence. Nothing about him has changed since the last time I saw him, but he still looks different. There’s remorse in his eyes as he looks at me, and I stand perfectly still, calculating.

“I missed you, you know,” he says. “First Pike is killed and then you run off. I have no one to talk to during off-hours. I haven’t even been assigned a new team since we’ve been waiting to bring you back.”

“I’m not going back,” I tell him. “They lied to us.”

“I have to take you back, Sten.” Isaac takes a few steps inside the room.

I tense, poised and waiting for him to make a move, but he pauses.

“You had to know this was going to happen.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“Yeah, it does.”

The muscles in his legs flex, causing the fabric around them to shift. I know exactly how he will move, how he will attack. I parry, turning to one side and letting him go past me before I punch into his kidney.

He spins and faces me again. I didn’t expect the blow to incapacitate him in any way—I just need to get myself to the door so I can get out of here. If I’m compromised, everyone else may be compromised as well. I have to get back to Wick so he can contact the others and warn them.

“It’s no good, Sten. You’ve got nowhere to go. As we speak, they’re raiding the Carson technical center in Martinsville. There isn’t anywhere for you to run. You just need to come back with me so the doctors can get you fixed up.”

“I’m not going to let them touch me,” I say.

He jumps at me again, and we lock arms. I slam my forehead into his, and he knees me in the stomach. We tussle for a moment and then break apart.

“You’re just confused,” Isaac says. “You’re broken, Sten, but they can fix—”

“They lied to us!” I yell at him. “They took away our thoughts, our memories. We aren’t volunteers, and my name isn’t Sten!”

“They’re filling your head with shit, man! We can end this right now. Just give it up, and I’ll take you both back to Mills. We can go back to the way everything was before.”

“I can’t do that.” I shake my head. “I can’t go back, not knowing what I know.”